National poll: Feds should respect Washington pot initiative

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed in a national Gallup Poll do not want the federal government enforcing federal anti-marijuana laws in the states — Washington and Colorado — that have recently voted to legalize possession, growing and sale of small amounts of cannabis.

Reacting to November’s votes in the Evergreen State and the Centennial State, Gallup posed the following question:

“As you may know, marijuana use is legal in some states. Do you think the federal government should take steps to enforce federal anti-marijuana laws in those states, or not?”

The result: 34 percent said yes, 64 percent answered no. The poll was taken between Nov. 26 and 29. Overall, in the poll, Americans are almost evenly divided on the question of whether marijuana should be legal: 48 percent (and 60 percent of those under 30) said yes, 50 percent answered no.

The possession, growth and sale of marijuana violates the federal Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana is treated as a dangerous, Class I drug, even though as many as 100 million Americans — including President Obama — have used the drug.

Such diverse personalities as Obama and the late conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr. have written about when they used cannabis. Former Vice President Al Gore ‘fessed up to using marijuana in the 1970s when he was a writer for the Nashville Tennessean.

The U.S. Justice Department said last week that it is studying the Washington and Colorado initiatives. It did issue a reminder that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and that those possessing weed would be arrested on any federal property — national parks, national forests, federal buildings and military bases.

Gallup took note of rapid changes in public opinion on the issue.

“As recently as 2005, only about a third of Americans supported marijuana legalization: In 1969, when Gallup first asked about the issue, 12 percent suggested legalizing pot,” it reported.